Delta plus: Scientists say too early to tell risk of

Soutik Biswas India correspondent   Coronavirus pandemic   India has classified a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in Europe as a “variant of concern”, but it’s too early to really tell. A mutation is elevated from a “variant of interest” to a “variant of concern” (VOC) when it shows evidence of fulfilling at […]

UK Covid infections rise as Delta variant dominates

By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online Coronavirus pandemic   UK coronavirus infections have risen slightly in the last week, with an estimated 119,000 people – up from 110,000 – now positive for the virus. The Office for National Statistics figures, up to 12 June, suggest one in every 540 people is infected. The more infectious […]

Another life-saving Covid treatment found

By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online Coronavirus pandemic   Exactly a year on from the discovery that a cheap steroid drug prevented Covid deaths, researchers say they have found another life-saving therapy. It is expensive – a potent intravenous infusion of antibodies to neutralise the virus, rather than dampen the body’s inflammatory response […]

China Taishan plant: ‘Performance issue’ reported at nuclear facility

A French energy company says it has deliberately released gas from a Chinese nuclear power plant in a bid to fix a “performance issue”. EDF Energy confirmed that there was a build-up of noble gases in one of the two reactors’ primary circuits. It comes after CNN reported that the US government had been assessing […]

Headache and runny nose linked to Delta variant

Coronavirus pandemic   A headache, sore throat and runny nose are now the most commonly reported symptoms linked to Covid infection in the UK, researchers say. Prof Tim Spector, who runs the Zoe Covid Symptom study, says catching the Delta variant can feel “more like a bad cold” for younger people. But although they may not […]

US overtakes UK as hardest hit by Covid deaths in

By Faisal Islam Economics editor Coronavirus pandemic The US was worst hit by the pandemic in the G7 big Western democracies over the first year of Covid-19, according to an updated study of excess death figures. The analysis, done for the BBC by the Health Foundation, comes on the eve of the G7 summit in […]

The India Covid patients whose lonely deaths went viral

By Vineet Khare BBC Hindi, Delhi Coronavirus pandemic In Delhi in April, six people died alone on a hospital ward, left there by doctors in the midst of the country’s devastating second wave of Covid-19. Video of the bodies left on the ward went viral, but the headlines soon moved on, leaving a void of […]

India orders 300 million unapproved Covid jabs

IMAGE COPYRIGHT GETTY IMAGES India has ordered 300 million doses of an unapproved coronavirus vaccine amid a devastating second wave. The unnamed vaccine from Indian firm Biological E is in Phase 3 trials, and had showed “promising results” in the first two phases, the federal government said in a statement. The $206m order is the […]

Pregnant and unprotected: Indian mothers-to-be living in fear of Covid

By Aparna Alluri and Vikas Pandey BBC News, Delhi Coronavirus pandemic When Jagriti Eadala found out she was pregnant in February, she and her husband celebrated by going on a holiday. It coincided with their anniversary and Covid appeared to be on the wane in India. But within a month, the 29-year-old found herself cloistered […]

Central Vista: Does Indian PM Narendra Modi really need a

By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi Rajpath (King’s Avenue), in the centre of the Indian capital, is to Delhi’ites what Central Park is to New Yorkers, or the Champs-Elysees to Parisians. The manicured lawns on either side of the wide ceremonial boulevard are a place for thousands to gather to soak up the winter sun […]